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Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Joe Girardi is a relatively calm manager. Bobby Cox can rest easy that his career ejections record is safe, as Girardi has only been ejected 22 times as a manager. Occasionally, the cameras will flash to him after a questionable call on the field and Girardi will be seen shaking his head or pursing his lips. That’s about it, however. He can get excited when he’s trying to get thrown out of a game but, in general, he’s less vocal on the field than other managers in the game.

He’s also a player's manager, known for standing up for the guys who play for him and defending their privacy. So, when Girardi starts actively voicing his displeasure of them and actively calling them out, it’s clear he’s trying to send the team a message. He’s getting frustrated and he’s starting to let it show.

On The Michael Kay Show on Monday, Michael Kay said of the Sunday game against the Twins, “Joe Girardi was really, really hot. You know the game ended at 4:07?…[Girardi] was in the interview room at 4:10. He couldn’t wait to get in front of that microphone.”

When he did, Girardi was uncharacteristically blunt, saying several times that there’s no room for excuses and that it’s time for the players from whom big production was expected to step up. The video available on the Yes Network website clearly shows his irritation.

By 'big production" he means, of course, the offense. The Yankees should have scored more than two runs through seven innings last night against Oakland. There's no reason this game should even have gone to extra innings. Even though Scott Kazmir has been fantastic in 2014, this is Yankee Stadium, where the Yankees need to start asserting themselves.

They need to go back to swinging the big bats, so their ordinarily complacent manager can go back to speaking softly and, more importantly, so the Yankees can start winning games. That is the only way they will stand any chance of making the playoffs.